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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  2. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. When was this ________________ built?
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. temple — side of the head
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. drill — the tool
  4. drill — a practice
  5. clip — for paper
  6. drill — army training
  7. clip — to cut
  8. clip — a video
  9. land — to come down
  10. court — of a king
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. land — a country
  13. plane — a tool
  14. race — humankind
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. ball — a great time
  17. land — ground
  18. ball — a dance
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. race — a contest
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. court — for sport
  23. court — of law
  24. race — the arms race

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com